Energy conservation and climate change mitigation have fostered the development of alternatives to the direct use of fossil fuels. Light to electrical energy conversion in the form of solar panels is one alternative. Electrical energy generated by conventional wind turbines is another alternative. In both of these cases, a large area often in a remote geographical location is required so that many solar panels or wind turbines can be assembled into farms to provide significant generation from renewable resources. Among other challenges, the remote location results in power transfer loss when connecting to the National Power Grid.
An alternative [see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/135,493] that takes advantage of existing real estate to generate power close to potential usage sites and users on the National Power Grid is the harvesting of otherwise dissipated energy from the movement of vehicular traffic.
Just as farms of solar panels and of wind turbines require control systems (addressed in previous patents listed), so do farms of modules engaged in energy harvesting from vehicular traffic given the following special characteristics:                1. Mechanical energy conversion modules are subject to abrasion        2. Modules are exposed in a public space to road traffic and weather hazards rather than confined in fully secured areas        3. Modules not in a protected area so are exposed at night in isolation to human and animal vandalism        4. Modules operation and maintenance must minimize traffic interruptions        5. Module operation must continually maintain and assist vehicular safety        
Having noted the common challenges, a need will likely arise for a central system to engineer the energy recapture modules for power-generating efficiency, long-term reliability and sustainable power generation. For example, a utility may monitor the grid power demand and may need to communicate with the energy-recapture farm to determine if the farm has the capacity to meet some or all of the power demand. As the number of energy-recapture modules increases it is important that the collection of inverters appears to the grid as if it was the same as for other power plants. As an energy-recapture farm can include many mechanical-to-electrical energy conversion modules with power inverters there is a need for a centralized control to collectively manage the inverters along with all of the supporting energy farm data as one cohesive system. Such a control system must take into account that the Energy Recapture Modules are in relatively close proximity for a given installation and vehicular traffic flow varies over a 24-hour period. As more energy farms become operational, the communication, coordination, and control among the plurality of farms becomes more and more critical. However, coordination also becomes more difficult when the multiple energy farms (with their multiple associated controllers) are tied together in ad-hoc systems. Therefore, a need exists for systems and methods for controlling power in recapturable energy sources and a means of commercially distributing such power.
An alternative [see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/136,764] describes the application of advanced technologies to the control of power generated by otherwise dissipated energy from the movement of vehicular traffic.
An energy recapture module for recapturing energy from vehicular traffic and converting it into electrical power and its associated farm control system for conditioning the electrical power for entry into the National Power Grid is faced with challenges for efficient manufacture, for long term sustainability and for optimal distribution to meet energy needs.